The nearly 70g nugget could fetch up to $25,000 on the market, said The Gold Shop owner Justin Eden. Photo / The Gold Shop
The nearly 70g nugget could fetch up to $25,000 on the market, said The Gold Shop owner Justin Eden. Photo / The Gold Shop
A pair of gold hunters have struck one of the biggest finds seen in Arrowtown in recent years, unearthing a gleaming 70g nugget from a secret location in the hills.
Owner of Arrowtown’s The Gold Shop, Justin Eden, said the piece was “a lovely water-worn nugget” and “a really nice,natural piece of gold”.
While not unheard of, he said discoveries of that size had become “quite uncommon these days”.
“Everybody can find smaller gold if you come panning in Arrowtown,” Eden said.
The prospectors were “absolutely rapt” with their find, The Gold Shop owner Justin Eden said. Photo / The Gold Shop
“We’ve got a gold panning area for everybody to access just outside of town. You will find gold, it’s a designated fossicking area - but the larger pieces like that are not found very often these days.”
He estimated the nugget could sell for around $25,000, given its size and rarity.
“That’s not unrealistic today for a large piece of gold,” he said.
“The larger nuggets do have a premium because they’re just so rare to find. They always hold their value, so a piece like that is quite collectable.”
With gold prices climbing, the timing couldn’t have been better.
“Gold was trading at $7025 an ounce this morning,” Eden said.
“It’s had significant gains in the last couple of years. It’s just one of those things, like a house in Queenstown – it just keeps going up.”
Eden said the find had left the prospectors “absolutely rapt”.
“Imagine if you found it,” he said.
“It’s not going to pay off your mortgage or buy you a section, but it’s definitely a boost. Once they sell it, it might pay off the credit card.”
He said the discovery was a reminder for would-be gold hunters to stick to legal fossicking zones.
The prospectors found the nugget at a claim near Arrowtown, a historic gold mining town and popular tourist destination near Queenstown.
“While there are designated fossicking areas around New Zealand, it is an offence to start fossicking on somebody else’s claim,” he said.
“If you’ve got a claim, it has cost you a lot of money to buy and maintain it. If somebody comes along and helps themselves – that’s stealing, and it is a punishable offence.”
He said the 70g nugget was found in a legal claim by the lucky prospectors – though they would not be disclosing its location.
